Bengali Outfit Rejects Assam Accord, Attacks Students’ Union Office

Law and order concerns were raised and Section 144 imposed after
protesters, led by a Bengali group demanding citizenship for Hindu
Bangladeshis, vandalised an All Assam Students’ Union office.

New Delhi: In an unprecedented event, an office of
the powerful All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) was attacked by a mob,
allegedly led by a Bengali organisation demanding citizenship for Hindu
Bangladeshis residing in the state and elsewhere.
Kuladhar Saikia, the state’s director general of police (law and order) told The Wire
on March 7, “Curfew has been clamped in the area as a preventive
measure and nine people have been taken into custody after an FIR was
filed by AASU after the attack on March 6”.
According to local news reports, protesters led by the Nikhil Bharat
Bangali Udbastu Samannay Samiti (NBBUSS) – spearheading the movement
across the country for granting citizenship to Hindu Bengalis by
amending the Citizenship Act, 1955 – organised a meeting in Silapathar
town of the state’s Dhemaji district on March 6. It was attended by the
organisation’s state and national level leaders. NBBUSS is a
Nagpur-based outfit. Its president Subodh Biswas, who addressed the
meeting, is allegedly associated with the RSS.
Leaders addressing the meeting rejected the Assam Accord
and demanded citizenship of all the Hindu Bengalis residing in the
state and called for an immediate halt to ‘harassment’ under the garb of
‘foreign nationals’. They supported the Narendra Modi government’s
December 2014 move to bring about an amendment to the Citizenship Act to grant Indian citizenship to Hindu Bangladeshis, among others, on religious grounds.
According to reports, the NBBUSS thereafter took out a rally through
the town that went out of control. Protesters pelted stones at the local
AASU office and vandalised it, which led to the police having to use
teargas and resort to a lathi-charge.
The incident could trigger serious law and order issues in the state,
as the anti-Bangladeshi sentiment among the ethnic Assamese community
has been strong. Lately, many citizens and students groups have been
taking to the streets, strongly opposing the Modi government’s decision
to amend the Act which, if passed, will violate the Assam Accord. As per
the accord, signed in 1985 by AASU and All Assam Gana Sangram Parishad
with the state government and the Rajiv Gandhi central government,
anyone entering the state after March 25, 1971, would be considered a
foreign national and would have to be deported to their country of
origin. If the BJP government’s Bill becomes an Act, any Hindu
Bangladeshi who has resided in the state for seven years will be
eligible for citizenship.
Presently, the process of updating the National Register of Citizens
1951, is being carried out as per the cut-off date mentioned in the
Assam Accord. Approximately, 1.5 lakh Hindus refugees from Bangladesh
reside in the state.
Reacting to the March 6 incident, AASU advisor Samujjal Bhattacharyya
demanded that the state government arrest the culprits behind the
attack or else “the consequences will be severe”.
In a note released to the press soon after the incident,
Bhattacharyya said, “The foreigners’ problems the state has been saddled
with must be solved only on the basis of the Assam Accord. Religion has
nothing to do with it. The indigenous people must call the shots in
Assam, not Bangladeshis.” He also said, “The present ruling dispensation
in the state came to power with a promise to safeguard the interests of
indigenous people. After today’s incident, we will closely watch what
steps the government takes in the coming days.”
AASU president Dipanka Nath said, “Due to indulgence from the BJP
government, such groups are getting the opportunity to flex their
muscles. The central government’s plan to give to citizenship to Bengali
Hindus has emboldened them to react in a violent way. We oppose the
Citizenship Bill tooth and nail and those (Hindus or Muslims) who came
to the state after March 25, 1971, should go back to their countries of
origin.”
The incident has also been condemned by the pro-talks faction of the
United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA). One of its senior leaders,
Mrinal Hazarika, urged “all ULFA and ex-ULFA members” to join AASU in
its fight against the incident. He also asked on social media, “Who is
giving so much power and support to those forces opposed to Assam and
the Assamese people?” and wondered whether the ethnic Assamese come out
in protest after the incident.
DGP Saikia ruled out further violence in the area, stating, “Section
144 is in place as a preventive measure. We rushed security forces to
the area soon after the incident, so the violence couldn’t spread. We
have also issued an alert to the police forces in all the districts.”
NBBUSS, which calls itself “the voice of 3.5 crore Bengali refugees
living in 18 states” of the country, organised the meeting in Silapathar
with four issues on the agenda – Bengali Hindus as victims of India’s
partition, removal of all Bengali Hindus from the D-voter list without
any condition, unconditional release of all Bengali Hindus from the
state’s detention camps and a halt to atrocities on Hindu Bengalis in
the name of foreigners.
Attempts by The Wire to contact Hiranmay Sarkar from
NBBUSS’s Dhemaji chapter and Prasen Raptan from the national chapter
have failed to get a response so far.
The issue was raised in the state assembly today. State finance
minister Himanta Biswa Sarma told reporters that the state government
has formed a committee headed by the additional home secretary to look
into the matter and asked it to submit its report within a month.
As per local news reports, an all-party fact finding team has left for Silapathar on March 7.

Map of L K Advani's Rath Yatra of 1990

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